You may have missed it over the weekend, but on Friday, the University of Notre Dame got named a defendant in a bizarre sex scandal. The action, styled as John Doe v. University of Notre Dame du Lac, and Jane Roe was filed in St. Joesph County and requests damages for the plaintiff against the defendants jointly for racial discrimination, sexual harassment, tort of outrage, negligence, and breach of contract.
From the language of the actual lawsuit, here’s what we know:
- The plaintiff, “John Doe,” is a currently enrolled African-American student. He enrolled at the university in the fall of 2014 on “academic scholarship.”
- The defendant, Jane Roe, is an administrator at the university employed in a capacity to provide academic support and counseling to “students and student athletes.” (Author’s note: there are reports that this employee has since been let go by the university.)
- In the spring of 2015, Doe allegedly began receiving academic support services from Roe. This set up the situation that Roe exploited leading to the harm.
- [Disclaimer: These details are of a sexual nature]: Per the complaint, Roe encouraged, manipulated, and coerced Doe into having sexual relations with her daughter. The plaintiff alleges that Roe would pay for out-of-state trips for sex with her daughter and supply condoms. When Doe tried to cut off the relationship, Roe allegedly threatened him.
- In addition to the sexual coercion, Doe also claims that Roe convinced him to seek mental health counseling at the university, and that the counselors attempted to medicate him to keep him compliant. Finally, it was alleged that Roe tried to convert Doe to Catholicism against his will.
- Plaintiff contends that Roe did this to other students, all African-American, and that this included student-athletes on the men’s football and basketball teams.
Obviously, this type of law suit will garner some attention. It’s combining racial and sexual exploitation and implicates the university as at least being recklessly unaware that this was going on. Why bring it up here? Because there are several reports already suggesting this is a current student-athlete on either the football or basketball team. The lawsuit does not claim this “John Doe” plaintiff is a student-athlete at all. It implies that he has knowledge that similar actions occurred against student-athletes, but there is no indication or claim that the plaintiff himself is on a team.
The allegations are serious and complicated and if at all true incredibly troubling. The university’s early reply to the press was a full denial of all allegations. Before deciding what this means as it relates to coaches, players, the program, or the university, keep in mind this is a notice-pleading complaint with very few details. If and when the story has more concrete ties to the school or athletic teams, we will update.
Survivor of the Davie, O'Leary, Willingham football eras. Southern. Charming and more often than not the wittiest person at his dinner table (he eats alone quite a bit).
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“Jane Roe” is alleged to have provided academic coaching to “students and student-athletes.” Accordingly, Jane Roe could not have been an employee of Academic Services for Student-Athletes, as the only students they work with are student-athletes.
Having said that, there are other offices that work with students who aren’t athletes, such as the First Year of Studies, the Colleges, and the academic departments.
According to a story in the New York Daily News, the University has terminated the employment of an employee responsible for “academic coaching.”
If one believes a poster on NDNation who claims to have done some internet investigation (the fact he is an NDNation poster is meant for identification and not a comment on his trustworthiness), the LinkedIn and Twitter accounts of a person employed at the First Year of Studies have been suspended.
All this does not imply that Notre Dame is liable for the conduct alleged in the complaint; the University may well be dismissed from the lawsuit in due course. We’ll have to wait and see.